More test driving

Now you just have to hope it doesn't get crushed by some inconsiderate bastard trying to commit suicide out of a hotel window...

Heh.

A bit more in depth:

If you pick the right colour, the new Passat looks very nice. Interior is well designed with loads of space, lots of little cubby holes for your bits and pices, but some of the trim is hard and not great quality - the lower half of the dash is particularly bad, being made from hard textured plastic, where the old model was all soft-touch.

All the toys appear to be there - illuminated vanity mirrors, oil-damped cup holders etc. Nice info panel between instruments in front of the driver.

Build quality is as good as ever - tight panel gaps, heavy doors that 'thunk' closed.

Engine. It's a cracker. Trickles along in 6th at 30mph with 900rpm on the dial. Plenty of 'go' in it for instant overtaking in top, too. Goes like f*ck in the lower gears when you floor it.

Overall, a very impressive car. Nicer to drive than the Jetta, and very obviously a class higher than it - even though prices would suggest otherwise.

Downside is that I can't have one with DSG. But I can live with that because the engine is so flexible (doesn't really need 6 gears), and because the gearchange is so light and precise with a very stubby lever.

We compared a Jetta and Passat side by side on the used forecourt, and the wife decided that the Passat is the better car - which I'd agree with.

Not sure about the colour choice, though. Most fleet Passats appear to be silver or black pearl. I'm tempted to go with the 'wheat pearl' - which is more of a platinum colour, with a Latte rather than black interior.

You really do have worse taste than me. It is astonishing. Are you sure you can't get it in cyber green with tobacco interior - sort of like a mobile chocolate lime?

Richard

It's not *that* bad, ffs.

There's only 3 options for the interior - black, grey or latte. Black is very dark as *everything* is black, grey looks like elephant skin on the hard dash plastics, which leaves latte as the only choice if you don't want black.

As for the exterior - I don't want the rather wishy-washy pale metallic green, silver is far too common, as is black. So that leaves metallic blue, which is a very 70s style metalflake metallic, or a pearl blue - but pearl blue is so dark it's almost black.

I did ask if I could have it in mango orange with the Golf GTI tartan seats ;-)

Mine would be pearl blue with black interior.

Although black would be second choice :)

There aren't enough orange cars in the world...

Richard

That was my initial thought. But then I thought I wanted something different to everyone else in the company.

Heh. Lots of pearl black ones out there. Both demonstrators were pearl black.

Heh. It really is a shame, 'cos it's that Mirafiori orange, IYSWIM. Would be quite cool to have such a big fleet car in that colour.

The Focus ST "ASBO orange" has grown on me as well.

I seen one of these puppies in the flesh yesterday at B&Q and in the daylight I must say, it looks very 'peachy'. In terms of colour that is :)

Looks great on a rainy day as well. Dunno what it looks like when dirty though.

Mine was Inky Blue pearl - like a million other lease Passats (2003 in this case)

I have noticed - there were a few B5.5 Passats in that blue pearl on the forecourt.

Which is why I fancied having the wheat beige metallic.

I'm actually disappointed with the choices available.

That's why I had a 4motion - You almost never came up against another whilst doing the old "count the red letters on the TDI badge" game that all Passat company car drivers do.

Lol.

They don't do that any more. The 1.9 is badged 'TDI' the 2lt badged

I'm going for the badge delete option.

On the basis that if you don't ask, you don't get - ask them if they can do a special order Nuvola Blue one :-)

-- "For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

Probably either a JCB or an Easyjet rep.

Very discreet...

Being a 4mo, mine had twin tailpipes as well - only serious anoraks would spot that, being tucked up under the bumper as they were...

Heh.

The only real question now is deciding if I want to pay the extra for an SE, or stick with the S.

It's very hard to work out the differences, as every car I've seen so far has been an SE....... the actual spec. differences aren't really worth worrying about, but there appear to be differences in the actual trim, IYSWIM - silly stuff like the central cup holders having a roller-blind over them in the SE that *appears* to be missing in the S. I need to find a dealer with an S on the forecourt so I can have a proper look, I guess.

Tom Robinson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Does it say Dynorod on the sides? ;-)

"AstraVanMan" wrote in news:_5ilg.32653$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe7-win.ntli.net:

Christ... You guys talk colours like lassies do. Red is red, Blue is Blue. etc. Crimson mango peach pearlescent flake is for girls or poofs. Your car is a GTX XL GTR etc. No colour involved. Next thing, one of you will be saying "I bought a peach blush car, It's lovely", and I'll be asking, "what the f*ck is it then?"